Fish live in continuous contact with various stressors and antigenic material present within their environments. The impact of stressors associated with wastewater-exposed environments on fish has become of particular interest in toxicology studies. The objectives of this study were to examine potential effects of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent-associated stressors on innate cytokine expression within the gills of darter species (Etheostoma spp.), using both field and laboratory approaches. Male and female darters (rainbow, greenside, fantail, and johnny darters) were collected upstream and downstream of the Waterloo WWTP in the Grand River, Ontario. Gill samples were collected from fish in the field and from a second subset of fish brought back to the laboratory. Laboratory fish were acutely exposed (96-h) to an environmentally relevant concentration of venlafaxine (1.0 μg/L), a commonly prescribed antidepressant. To assess the impacts of these stressors on the innate immunity of darters, the expression of key innate cytokines was examined. Minor significant effects on innate cytokine expression were observed between upstream and downstream fish. Moderate effects on cytokine expression were observed in venlafaxine-exposed fish compared to their control counterparts however, changes were not indicative of a biologically significant immune response occurring due to the exposure. Although the results of this study did not display extensive impacts of effluent and pharmaceutical exposure on innate cytokine expression within the gills, they provide a novel avenue of study, illustrating the importance of examining potential impacts that effluent-associated stressors can have on fundamental immune responses of native fish species.

鱼类生活中不断接触环境中存在的各种压力源和抗原物质。与废水暴露环境相关的压力源对鱼类的影响已成为毒理学研究的特别关注点。本研究的目的是利用现场和实验室方法，检查污水处理厂 (WWTP) 出水相关压力源对鲈鱼 ( Etheostoma spp.)鳃内先天细胞因子表达的潜在影响。在安大略省格兰德河滑铁卢污水处理厂的上游和下游收集了雄性和雌性鲈鱼（彩虹鲈鱼、绿边鲈鱼、扇尾鲈鱼和约翰尼鲈鱼）。鳃样本是从田间的鱼和带回实验室的第二组鱼中采集的。实验鱼急性暴露于环境相关浓度的文拉法辛 (1.0 μg/L)（一种常用的抗抑郁药）中（96 小时）。为了评估这些压力源对蛇鲈先天免疫的影响，我们检查了关键先天细胞因子的表达。在上游和下游鱼类之间观察到对先天细胞因子表达的轻微显着影响。与对照鱼相比，在文拉法辛暴露的鱼中观察到对细胞因子表达的中等影响，但是，变化并不表明由于暴露而发生具有生物学意义的免疫反应。尽管这项研究的结果没有显示出污水和药物暴露对鳃内先天细胞因子表达的广泛影响，但它们提供了一种新的研究途径，说明了检查与污水相关的应激源对基本免疫反应可能产生的潜在影响的重要性本地鱼类种类。